The Flintstones

The Flintstones The show is set in the town of Bedrock in the Stone Age era. The show is an allegory to American society of the mid-20th century; in the Flintstones’ fantasy version of the past, dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, and other long extinct animals co-exist with barefoot cavemen, who use technology very similar to that of the mid-20th century, although made entirely from pre-industrial materials and largely powered through the use of various animals. The characters drive cars made out of stone or wood and animal skins and powered by foot.Model of Flintstones car at 2008 New York International Auto Show.

One source of the show’s humor was the ways animals were used for technology. For example, when the characters took photographs with an instant camera, the inside of the camera box would be shown to contain a bird carving the picture on a stone tablet with its bill. In a running gag, the animals powering such technology would, breaking the fourth wall, look directly into the camera at the audience, shrug, and remark, “It’s a living,” or some similar phrase. Other commonly seen gadgets in the series included:

* a baby woolly mammoth being used as a vacuum cleaner * An adult woolly mammoth would act as a shower by spraying water with its trunk * Lifts are raised and lowered by ropes around brontosaurs’ necks * “automatic” windows are powered by monkeys that dwell on the outside windowsill * birds configured as “car horns” are activated by pulling on their tails * An electric razor is depicted as a clam shell housing a honey-bee vibrating it as the edges are rubbed against the character’s face.

Travel to “Hollyrock,” a parody of Hollywood, California, usually involved an “airplane” flight—the “plane” in this case often shown as a giant pterodactyl. (Other familiar place names are similarly contorted: San Antonio becomes Sand-and-Stony-o; the country to the south of Bedrock’s land is called Mexirock; and so forth.)Ann-Margret as “Ann Margrock” was one of many famous names who lent their likenesses and voices to the series. She later appeared in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.

The Stone Age setting allowed for gags and puns involving rocks; the names of the various characters being “rock” puns. These included celebrities of the 1960s such as: